Tasks for the weekend – July 10, 2021 – selective patches

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(Youtube here) So you want to install just SOME updates but not all?  You want to continue to defer updates but the clock is running out? If you want
[See the full post at: Tasks for the weekend – July 10, 2021 – selective patches]

Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher

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Wumgr is a good tool. However, if you know what you want, (e.g. after reading askwoody), why wouldn’t you leave update crippled, go straight to Microsoft Update Catalog, download only the updates you want and install those?

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Because WUMgr conveniently batch installs your selected updates, vs individual standalone installation of Update Catalog packages.  Both routes are useful after the basic step of disabling automatic Win Update service operation, but you’ll probably use WUMgr more often.

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Because that’s a lot of clicking.

Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher

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lol wow. And this is why I’m still on W7..

Seriously, why all that rigamarole just to choose what updates you want installed. What if some have problems or aren’t compatible with your machine?

HAAAAATE this attitude of MS that just because you’re running their OS, your entire PC & your use of it is just a “rented client” from them.

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Honestly I’ve always installed updates and don’t have issues with them. By the time I install them (a week or so later) Microsoft has fixed the update.  For me – you don’t skip updates – it’s all about timing of updates.

Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher

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wavy

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You must be one luck lady. Go play the lottery and win some money. I always have issues after install MS Updates  even after waiting a week or more with either printing not working, programs not working, blue screen/green screen/gray screen, etc. Spend hours looking for work arounds. This site had some people that provide them but late some of them are no longer here. Need to search on dark net to find workarounds. MS does not test their updates any more and use third party coders to make them. This is why there are some many issues with them.

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It’s not luck.  Some of it is keeping up to date on bios and video drivers. Then it’s keeping in mind that if a program continually has issues, you may need to look for an alternative.   Microsoft still has patches coded up by employees.  Unfortunately Microsoft tests for businesses, not necessarily for consumers/home users/small business. 🙁

Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher

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Drivers are one perfect example of something I’d NEVER want Windows Update to touch (besides generic USB drivers etc).

I’d always pause an update for that and go to the manufacturer’s site and download from there, especially for Video drivers! That’s a perfect example of a specific update I’d want to prevent.

On W7 that’s as simple as unticking it, and/or hiding it, and job done. Because I have control over my machine.

I can also see what patches are, nice and easy too. W10’s panel for what you’re installing isn’t too great for visibility.

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You must pretty good too, to go onto the DarkWeb (sidebar: post a short tutorial if you know of one) and be able to find solutions. I best I have been able to do when I have problems, is to do Google searches and take a chance on the advice I think is the most truthful.

I also do not have usually have problems with the Microsoft Updates. I tend to wait until the Patch Watch write about the problems so I can decide about patching.

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If there is an update that seems absolutely critical for what I do on my machine and it is something I cannot wait to install, then I’ll go to the catalog and download and install it. That doesn’t happen even as often as once a year. Otherwise, I am content to just wait until we get the green light to install the other updates I need.

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I also like the ability to do the following in WUMgr:

• select an update then click the Install icon
• select an update then click the Hide icon

You have to click the Windows Update icon before you can do the install or hide functions.

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I forgot to mention a few WUMgr settings so it does not “auto update”.

In the Options tab, set the Windows Update -> Manual Download / Install
In the Auto Update tab, set Disable Automatic Updates

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I did not know there is a whole thread on WUMgr here at AskWoody.

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Susan Bradley wrote:

Because that’s a lot of clicking.

Huh? What’s a lot of clicking? The monthly cumulative update is usually all you need.

I too would never allow WU to do driver updates. As for BIOS, I never update during the life of a computer (over 22 years now of doing it this way). I’ve read that recently the old, excellent advice of never do BIOS updates has changed to one of do them frequently. I’m not convinced this change is a good one as I don’t see the point.

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Why not use the registry trick to pause updates until 2050 (or whenever)? That is what I do on my one Windows 10 Home laptop.

 

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsUpdate\UX\Settings]
“PauseFeatureUpdatesStartTime”=”2015-01-01T12:00:00Z”
“PauseQualityUpdatesStartTime”=”2015-01-01T12:00:00Z”
“PauseUpdatesExpiryTime”=”2050-01-01T12:00:00Z”
“PauseFeatureUpdatesEndTime”=”2050-01-01T12:00:00Z”
“PauseQualityUpdatesEndTime”=”2050-01-01T12:00:00Z”

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsUpdate\UpdatePolicy\Settings]
“PausedQualityStatus”=dword:00000001
“PausedFeatureStatus”=dword:00000001

 

And then unpause using this registry:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsUpdate\UX\Settings]
“PauseFeatureUpdatesStartTime”=-
“PauseQualityUpdatesStartTime”=-
“PauseUpdatesExpiryTime”=-
“PauseFeatureUpdatesEndTime”=-
“PauseQualityUpdatesEndTime”=-

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsUpdate\UpdatePolicy\Settings]
“PausedQualityStatus”=-
“PausedFeatureStatus”=-

 

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KP

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This sounds very interesting because I use WUMgr to double check for any missed updates. (I manually download the patches and manually install.)

I found 2 mentions of PauseUpdatesExpiryTime:
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/t/746417/bsod-when-printing-related-to-kb5000802kb5000808/
https://www.reddit.com/user/almora9/

Can anyone point to some Microsoft documentation that describes the registry keys?

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nightshade

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Well, I only discovered it by accident, I wanted to find some light weight Windows 10 for a VM, so I tried some gaming Lite ones, and one of them had the option to pause updates until 2050, so I dug deeper to find out how he does it. I’ve been using it ever since.

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